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Silicon Valley plunges into darkness for over 12 hours

  • Bengaluru plunges into darkness for over 7 hours due to a major power outage.
  • While authorities cited heavy rain and storm behind the major default, citizens call it an excuse.
  • Close to 9 sub-stations were out of order, which affected areas like  Fraser Town, Cooke Town, Banaswadi, Kalyan Nagar, HRBR Layout,

 

The Silicone Valley of India Bengaluru plunges into darkness for hours leaving citizens helpless

It was 1:00 pm at night when 32-year old Roshan realised that the inverter in her house had drained out. In the prime of her pregnancy, she knew she had to tread carefully if she had to use the washroom in the dark. However, the battery of her mobile was also drained out and she could not even use the torch, thanks to the 7-hour power outage. She wondered how her in-laws were faring in the other room who were elderly and ailing. Her father-in-law, especially could not bear the heat as he had a heart problem.

This was the case in most of the households in Eastern and Northern Bengaluru where children, women and elders were affected due to the prolonged power cut. The lashing storm and the rain made the situation even worse. The Hoody station of Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited collapsed because of the heavy rain and the areas it supplied electricity to plunged into instant darkness post 6 pm. Close to 9 sub-stations supplying power to the some areas in West Bengaluru and the CBD too had no power at all after 8 pm.

The rain lashed out at around 9:15 pm, but the power outage had plunged the city into darkness since 6 pm on Wednesday evening. How does the BESCOM plan to explain that?

The areas that were affected included Fraser Town, Cooke Town, Banaswadi, Kalyan Nagar, HRBR Layout, Hennur and even parts of Hebbal and surrounding areas.  The authorities could not resolve the issue till late at night. Bescom authorities said that the power outage was due to the incoming supply failure from various MUSS linked to the 400 KV Hoody Station. One of the officers, speaking to the TOI, said," the lines tripped due to heavy wind followed by rain. We hope to restore power supply before midnight. But the continuous strong winds are a concern."

Meanwhile, stubbing the reasons as mere excuses, an IT employee Debapriya Sen said, "this is a regular excuse that BESCOM has to give. On other days too, when there is no storm or rain or minimum natural elements at work, there is no electricity. My inverter has conked off several times. This is the condition of the Silicon Valley of India. I do not think any other state has so much power cut everyday. This is pure carelessness."

Housewife, Mitali S rues, "The food in the fridge goes stale half the time. We have an AC but we cannot use it because there is no electricity most of the time. The mornings and afternoons are terrible, especially when the afternoon sun is blazing."

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